In semiconductor manufacturing, the complexity of devices formed on semiconductor substrates continues to increase at a rapid pace, while the size of features, such as transistor gates, continues to decrease well below the 93 nanometer (nm) technology node. As a result, manufacturing processes require increasingly sophisticated unit process and process integration schemes, as well as process and hardware control strategies to ensure the uniform fabrication of devices across the substrate. For example, during the fabrication of a gate electrode structure in a transistor device, patterning systems and etching systems, which facilitate the formation of the gate structure in a plurality of material films formed on the substrate, are required to achieve and preserve the gate structure critical dimension (CD) vertically within high-aspect-ratio devices. Furthermore, for example, during the deposition of thin conformal films over complex topography, depositions systems are required to deposit thin films of uniform thickness over both flat surfaces, such as the flat-field and the bottoms of structures, but also along the side-walls of high-aspect-ratio structures.